Warhammer Online Review - Graphics and Performance

Warhammer Online may not have the Graphics of Age of Conan or the Performance of World of Warcraft, but it hits a happy medium and has it where it counts. Read more...

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Graphics

The WarhammerOnline development team certainly didn't place the quality of graphics higher than the quality of the games features, fun, and playability. MMORPG's that have done so in the recent past havn't fared nearly as well in the long run (Age of Conan comes to mind). World of Warcraft proved that you do not need to have cutting edge graphics to be the most popular game around. Warhammer improved on that model, creating graphics that go far beyond the "cartoonish" style Warcraft is often ridiculed for. Warhammer's graphics are decidedly realistic without getting too detail intense. Several settigns for quality and performance are available to customize each players experience. The "bloom" graphic effect that is popular in Age of Conan and Guild Wars was also not touched on much. The graphics definitely take on a gritty effect that lends itself to the theme of the game. Zones are carefully designed to match the storyline and be unique in themselves, emmersing the player in a variety of realistic environments.

The graphics rating for Warhammer loses points with me, however, because for graphics less than "the best" players are still paying the price in performance. It seems as if graphics were so far down on the developers list that they failed to optimize the system before launch. Dozens of graphics and graphics card compatibility errors have been reported and the rate that they're being fixed seems much slower than the rest of the development process. My hope is that by the six-month mark the graphics system will be optimized making it possible for more people to enjoy smooth and seemless play.

Overall Rating

I feel had performance, graphics, and optimization been higher up on the developers list that more people would be able to play the game. As it is, most people I know are being forced to upgrade their systems to play Warhammer Online. I know a lot have people have missed out on the game because of not being able to afford to do so. As I mentioned above, I hope that the development team can address this sooner rather than later to enable more people to enjoy this fantastic game.

That said, I still maintain that this is a fantastic game that anyone can easily fall in love with. The amount of features that it includes is enough alone to attract any gamer. On top of all that, it is simply a pleasure to play, with exciting dynamics and group/guild play that exceeds any other game I've seen. I strongly recommend it to anyone with a system capable of running it!